By Walter F. Roache, Jr., The Tennessean
A class action suit has been filed in U.S. District court in
Minnesota against the company identified as the source of a spinal
steroid that has caused 14 deaths and sickened 170 others who were
injected with the drug.
The suit filed Thursday in behalf of Barbe
Puro charges that New England Compounding Center issued "a fungus
contaminated steroid" which was "dangerous and unfit for use."
Puro, a Savage, Minnesota resident, was injected with the drug on Sept. 17 at a clinic in nearby Shakopee.
"After receiving the injections plaintiff suffered headaches and nausea for approximately a week," the suit states.
She
later received a call from the Minnesota Health Department informing
her that she had received a contaminated steroid and directing her to
see a physician and be evaluated for potential fungal meningitis.
The
12-page complaint charges that the Framingham, Mass., company "had a
duty to use reasonable care in designing and manufacturing the
methylprednisolone acetate steroid doses such that they are not
unreasonably dangerous."
The suit was filed in behalf of Puro and all other Minnesota residents injected with the tainted drugs.